Cur­rent Com­mis­sioner Tim Greene gladly answered our Knox­i­fied questionnaire.

1. Intro­duce your­self to Knoxville, who are you, and why are you running?

Tim Greene My name is Tim Greene, 45 and I was born Jan­u­ary 14, 1963 to Ben­nie & Betty Greene of South Knoxville. I have two broth­ers, Todd and Ted and a sis­ter, Tina. I attended Gap Creek Ele­men­tary School, Doyle Mid­dle and Doyle High School where I played cen­ter on its foot­ball team. I grad­u­ated in 1981. While at Doyle High School, I met and dated Sally Pick­ens, a cheer­leader. We mar­ried on June 15, 1985.

I am the owner of Betty’s Florist since 1983 and Co– owner of Sally’s Alley, a cloth­ing store with his wife since 2002. Both busi­nesses are located on Chap­man High­way at Hendron’s Chapel Road in South Knoxville. I have been with the Sey­mour Vol­un­teer Fire Depart­ment since 1985 and have served on its board of direc­tors. I presently serve as its Sec­re­tary– Trea­surer, a posi­tion I have held since 1996. I am Co-owner of Knoxville Flo­ral Deliv­ery Ser­vice since 1997.

On Jan­u­ary 31, 2007, I was appointed to serve the remain­ing term of the term lim­ited Larry Clark who made the rec­om­men­da­tion to appoint­ment me and the Com­mis­sion accepted. I have served with the high­est regard for my fel­low South Knoxvil­lians as well as my col­leagues on Com­mis­sion.
My inter­ests include boat­ing, golf­ing, and spend­ing time with his fam­ily.

Why are you run­ning? I want to run for office because I think one of the most impor­tant oppor­tu­ni­ties is to serve in pub­lic office. I feel through this office I can con­tinue to help make a dif­fer­ence in our com­mu­nity. My fam­ily has lived and worked in Knoxville for over five gen­er­a­tions. I own a busi­ness in this com­mu­nity, my fam­ily owns a farm and I have served our com­mu­nity through vol­un­teer activ­i­ties. I want to make sure that we con­tinue to cre­ate a foun­da­tion that works with busi­nesses and cre­ates an infra­struc­ture that allows us and future gen­er­a­tions to achieve the dreams of a great com­mu­nity. I believe that in Knoxville any­thing is possible.

2. We think it’s bet­ter know­ing what not to do rather than hav­ing an exten­sive plan. What areas or inter­ests would ben­e­fit Knox County not to ven­ture into?

I would not be inter­ested in cre­at­ing a gov­ern­ment that drains the tax pay­ers of their local dol­lar with no eye toward the future. I think in Knox County we need to bring solid busi­ness prin­ci­ples back to run­ning the gov­ern­ment. We need to have a detailed plan for growth, a plan to fund that growth and an eye toward cre­at­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties for indi­vid­u­als to be suc­cess­ful within our com­mu­nity both per­son­ally and eco­nom­i­cally. I think we need to con­tinue to believe in the peo­ple and ideas of Knox County. If you look at the suc­cess we have had in the past with busi­ness locally grown and the assets we posses (Uni­ver­sity of Ten­nessee, Ten­nessee River and the Great Smoky Moun­tains National Park in our back yard). Every cit­i­zen should feel that in our com­mu­nity you can thrive eco­nom­i­cally as well as live in an inspir­ing place. I want to focus on the assets and max­i­miz­ing the oppor­tu­ni­ties for steady and sus­tained growth that cre­ates a great community.

3. What 5 things could you not live without?

1. Wife, Fam­ily and Friends
2. After­noons on the Lake
3. Cof­fee and the morn­ing news­pa­per
4. A good Ham­burger
5. A hard days work